Garment-hanger.



, PATENTBD SEPT. 8,-1903.

A. H. HOLLAND. GARMENT HANGER. APPLICATION TILED D110. 27, 1902.

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Patented September e, 1908.

PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT H. HOLLAND, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

GARMENT-HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 738,447, dated September 8, 1903.

Application filed December 27,1902. Serial No. 1361818- (N0 mode To all whom it may concern:

Be it known-that I, ALBERT H. HOLLAND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Buffalo, Erie county, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garment-Hangers; and my preferred manner of carrying out the invention is set forth in the following full, clear, and exact description, terminating with claims particularly specifying the novelty.

This invention relates to furniture, and more especially to that class thereof known as hat and coat racks; and the object of the same is to construct a device of this character particularly adapted to be used on the backs of theater-seats and the like. Itis well known that even when such seats are folded the passage-Way between rows is quite small, and when spectators move along such' rows (especially when other spectators must 'rise in their seats to permit those just entering to pass in front of them) the space is extremely contracted. It results that those who are entering are likely to tear their clothes or injure themselves against any projections on the backs of the seats in front, and also any such projections or the articles held by them are liable to damage.

The object of the present invention is to provide a rack easily and cheaply manufactured and applied to the backs of theaterseats and the like which are in use, which racks shall have a supporting-arm so pivoted that it may swing from side to side to permit the passage of spectators,as above described, and also provided with means to retain such arm normally in its rearward position, which it can occupy when the spectator in rear of it is seated.

To this end the invention consists in a device of this character constructed substantially as described in the following specification, which sets forth its preferred form as I now manufacture it.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective view of the rear of a theaterseat with my improved device in its preferred form attached thereto, showing in dotted lines a garment hung on the supporting-arm and an umbrella leaning against the boss. Fig. II is a front elevation of the body with the boss shown cylindrical in contour. Fig.

III is a perspective view of the supportingarm removed from the body, showing also plan views of the spring, the lug, and the spring-plug removed from the body and its spring slightly removed from the arm. Fig. IV is a vertical sectional View through the parts assembled and with the arm turned outward.

In the accompanying drawings the letter S designates the back of a seat, such as those folding chairs usually employed in theaters and the like. Attached to the rear face of this seat-back near its top is a casting which may be made inthe form of a plus sign, comprising two vertical and two horizontal arms 1, through which pass screws 2, that take into the back of the seat, and from the center of this casting projects a (preferably integral) boss 3, which may be square, as shown in Fig. 1, round, as shown in Fig. II, or of other suitable contour. Projecting beyond the outer and rear end of said boss atits top and bottom are lugs 4, for a purpose to appear below, and bored into the boss longitudin-ally and between these lugs is a socket 5, whose bottom is closed by the bottom of the casting. Into this socket is inserted a coiled spring 10, and into the outer end of the spring is inserted the reduced inner end or shaft 11 of a plug 12, whose larger end or head is of a size permitting it to enter into the socket.

20 designates what I call a supportingarm. Its inner end is flattened on the top and bottom, so as to fit between the lugs 12, its inner extremity is flattened, as at 21, at right angles to the top and bottom, and its two sides 22 are flattened on planes which converge from the flattened inner extremitytoward the body, so as to be a trifle wedge shaped, as seen in Fig. III. Said body is preferably round and inclined upward at a slight angle from the inner end, and its outer or free end may have a small knot or head 25.

The means for connecting the two parts of the device thus far described consists of a pivot-pin, as 30, which may be a screw, a bolt, a rivet, or simply a pin, as shown. The

latter passes downwardlythrough small holes 31 in the lugs 12 beyond the outer end of the boss proper, and between these lugs it passes through a small hole 32, formed in the inner end of the supporting-arm in avertical plane parallel with its flattened extremity 21. In assembling these parts it is clear that the free end of the arm must be pressed at its flattened extremity 21 or at one of its sides 22 against the head of the plug, so that the latter shall compress its spring sufficiently to permit the pivot-holes to come into alinement. These pivot-holes stand vertical, or, more accurately speaking, upright, because the seat-back may not be strictly vertical; but the prevailing idea is that the pivot between the body and the arm shall be upright and that the rounded portion of the arm shall rise slightly upward and away from its pivot.

The device having been attached to the back of the seat at a proper point, it is clear that persons passing through the passageway between the seats can knock the arm to either side. The pressure of the spring holds the plug normally against the flattened eX tremity of the arm, which holds the latter out at right angles to the seat; but as the arm is knocked to either side the spring is compressed, the plug travels over the angle at one of the rear corners, and finally it is borne outward by the spring against one side 22 of the inner end of the arm, which side is preferably at such angle to the length of the arm that the latter is thrown a little more than ninety degrees around its pivot and its head 25 strikes the back of the seat. Even at this time the pivot end of the arm is slightly remote from the seat-back by the distance that the pivot-pin stands away from the seat. Hence it will be clear that if the sitting occupant behind it rested his umbrella or cane against the side of the boss the turning of the arm to one side or the other would not dislodge the same. Furthermore, a garment hung on the supporting-arm would not necessarily be dislodged because the arm was turned to one side, though it might be preferable for the sitting occupant to remove the garment temporarily while the other spectator was passing in or out.

As above intimated, this specification and drawings set forth only one of many forms and varieties which this invention may take, the essential principle being that embodied in the following claims.

What I claim as new is 1. In a coat-hanger of the class described, the combination with a body comprising a casting for attachment to a support, a boss projecting outward therefrom and having a socket, upper and lower lugs projecting from and beyond the boss, a coiled expansive spring within the socket, and a plug whose outer end fits in the socket and Whose inner end is reduced and stands within the spring; of a supporting arm having a substantially rectangular inner end fitting between said lugs and borne against at its extremity or on either side by the outer end of the plug, an

upright pivot-' pin passing through the lugs and the interposed portion of the arm, and a body portion to such arm rising slightly away from its pivoted portion, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a coat-hanger of the class described, the combination with a boss connected to and projecting from a support, upper and lower lugs at its extremity, an expansive spring within the boss, and a plug borne by said spring normally outward in the line of the lugs; of a supporting-arm having its inner end flattened at top and bottom to fit between the lugs, flattened at its inner extremity at right angles to the top and bottom, and flattened at its sides which converge slightly from its inner extremity outward, and having its body rounded and rising obliquely from the line of its inner end, and an upright pivotpin passing through the lugs and through said inner end of the body, all as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my signature this the 26th day of December, A. D. 1902.

- ALBERT H. HOLLAND.

Witnesses:

JOHN M. CHIPMAN, MATILDA R. SCHNEIDER. 

